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Thread: What hooked you?

  1. #1

    What hooked you?

    Speaking with my guildies on guild chat one evening when nothing was happening, some of started to talk about how we started in AO, and what it was that hooked us. The golden memories as it were, when you were a total n00b out of the backyard and knew absolutely noone.

    So I thought I'd start a positive thread, and get people to talk about their first AO kick, and why they got so hopelessly hooked.

    I'll start:

    Total noobie, lvl 20's or so adv, had taken a mission in Wailing Wastes that was FAR away from the whompa (and remember how INCREDIBLY far away everything was when you were new?),
    but with the compass and map I managed to find (and indeed get to alive) the mission area. Finished the mission, yellow line on the compass is GONE!

    Where did I come from? No idea, hadn't even heard of Dovve's then, and the default AO map is about as useful as lead lifebelt. Hadn't paid attention to which direction I had come from, and so of course I got horribly lost. The sand storm didn't help either... Close to tears, having taken an hour to get TO the mission, then an hour doing it (very carefully, I had figured out by now I could lose XP) and then running around for another hour in a sandstorm with no idea where the whompa was, and 90% of a lvls worth of unsaved XP.

    Then the sandstorm cleared, it was night time and I panned the camera up to see a beautiful night sky with two moons, and I swear it sent shivers down my spine! I must have looked at it, and looked around for 10-15 minutes just soaking it all in, it was so beautiful.

    Finally I thought of scrambling up a hill, take a proper look around, and far away I thought I could see the antennas of the WW whompah, so I set out in that direction, and finally made it home.

    Seems so far away now from the place in the game I am currently, where I don't think twice about zoning Yalmless into Omni Ent, casting Parrot and then head on over to SFH to check out The One.
    Reverend Revelator Ramagano, Proud Something of Alpha Omega

    Alpha Omega: Fighting For Your Future, Today

    No, I'm not back.

    How embarrassing, after all these years it turns out I CAN'T spell **ncom with an F and a U, talk about egg on my face eh?

  2. #2
    OOC

    3 things

    1. Getting articles published in Voice of Freedom
    2. Scenery
    3. Community of online friends
    -Finalizer Vixentrox-
    Former President and Founder,
    -Whisper's Edge-
    Former Member of the Atlantean CoT Clerical Staff

    Socializer 73% Killer 53% Explorer 53% Achiever 20%

    Kissysuzuki -
    WTB small enough brain and lack of imagination to be able to sit and solo hecklers for 5 days straight.

  3. #3
    Early january 2002 I was browsing a news site, and the AO 7-day trial had just been made available. I downloaded it just to check, never thinking I would get hooked.

    When I logged in, I was met by a fantastically complex GUI.

    The complexity and the people are what still keep me going

    215/15 | Lagerlad Atrox Adventurer | eqp | Mostly indestructible
    214/13 | Xpie Atrox Meta-physicist | eqp | Supernova!
    Member of Ragnarok

  4. #4
    SMG-using NT with no implants at lvl 33 (didnt know what implants where). Now that was fun! So much stuff to see, so many people to meet. Running outdoors, actually, and had a blast finding new places.

    "Looke", lvl 73 Adv was my hero. He even had a yalmaha. I would never get to his lvl.. ever. Thats how I felt anyway

    I remember talking to my friend after I got AO. I was like "They even got PLANES! Aircrafts! And there's like.. ALOT of skills to train in!"

    I even called my friend in the middle of the night going "I got a CAR! Im driving! ahahh!"
    Veteran of Equilibrium

  5. #5
    umm proably a combination of total burn out after working on a movie for like 20 hours a day and some amazingly good friends ingame that were just to cool to leave. sadly enough those original friends most have moved on.
    PVP Crat - More gimped than you would belive, but i still kill
    RK1
    Pokees Pokees
    LostClevage President of Enron

    RK2
    Titlehugger Psycho PVP crat
    Flushdragon SUpAh Gimped trox adv

  6. #6
    There was a free crack-cocaine offer from Funcom, so I couldn't pass it up
    Olivia "Haminie" Nguyen - Current Setup - 220 Doctor
    "Intrauterine" Device - Current Setup - 220 Shade


    Haminie - Slightly less than twice as uber as Chanelle

    To [Destromane]: I'm not a horrible player ;p
    [Destromane]: just a horrible person

  7. #7
    i remember those days, its like when i ran from: just north of newland city--------->varmit woods---------->aegean------------->west athen--------->old athen with 50 in runspeed


    that was a tour.........
    /Comfortyou


    Tha Doc Squad Commander of Wen-Tzu Enclave


    My trader

  8. #8
    My husband had decided to try AO last January when he got the free trial download. I was on my computer playing Evercrack, once more in a 6 hour long raid in Ssraa buffing 50 people after having spent the entire day killing mushrooms.. over and over and over. He was in Rome and that huge bell ringing out made me turn and look. I caught my breath as the music swelled and the monk voices came in. Then I stood up and went behind his chair to watch him move around, and saw a female character do /ballet.

    I downloaded my trial version the next day, and 3 weeks later, let my uber-EQ guild know that their lil buff slave was going to take a much needed stress break for a few weeks. The few weeks passed, and I never returned to EQ, other than to say my g'byes.
    Khissi / Isin / Ninjai / Whillow / Glory
    The Bratpack (Omni) and Leet (o.o) (Clan) - testers
    _________________________

    ...I am ready for the journey.

  9. #9
    I hopped onboard juuuust before 12.6. They patched it while I was in the training grounds. I remember getting out of the backyard for the first time.

    Press w...wait...wait...move 3 steps...ld...relog...wait...wait...wait...move 3 steps...ld...rinse repeat.

    It was horrible. What got me hooked was 12.7, that was heaven. I could stay on for 30 minutes a time on occasion.


    It's definately not the same game.
    Garret "Necc" Scheer press officer of Desert Winds (MSAS)

    Karma, the world's true equalizer.

    Free Rubi-Ka!

  10. #10
    I was in a certification class sitting next to a fellow that was on ao-basher. Every night he would be in either that or the official forums here. The 3rd night I asked him what this was... It took a while for him to explain it.. But it peaked my curiosity. The next day I bought the game from the store and started playing. He had given me his nickname so I sent him a tell when I was done setting my first character. I remember him showing me what the backyard was for and I leveld up to 2 and we took off on a tour of omni ent. Wow.. what a huge place.. seemed to be running and running and going nowhere. He showed me rome and trade. I thought it was incredible. Months have passed.. countless numbers of characters... Haven't bought another game since.

  11. #11
    the complex and player-interactive friendly 4 years spanding storyline hooked me for sure!!
    Freshman Che "Elnertz" Guevara.
    Atrox Soldier - 203th lvl.

    Noone in this game has more bad luck than me.

  12. #12
    I was looking at gamespot.com and saw this game. Wanted to try an mmorpg, and i thought this game would be good. When it came out I heard a lot of people saying it was crap, so i waited for a while. Forgot about the game for a long time, then it just popped in my head. I checked the website and saw they had a 7day trial thing. I tried it out and I was amazed. It was the music, surroundings, the look of things that pulled me in, felt like I was really somewhere else. I had no idea what this game was. That's what hooked me, but now I don't notice any of that. There was so much to do then I just got hooked and stayed...
    Kukulza proud unit member of Storm!!! - Equip - Perks
    Kuzap

    K.U.K.U.L.Z.A.: Kinetic Upgraded Knight Used for Learning and Zealous Assassination

    \m/ \m/

  13. #13
    Originally posted by Elnertz
    the complex and player-interactive friendly 4 years spanding storyline hooked me for sure!!
    *grins like an idiot*

    215/15 | Lagerlad Atrox Adventurer | eqp | Mostly indestructible
    214/13 | Xpie Atrox Meta-physicist | eqp | Supernova!
    Member of Ragnarok

  14. #14

    Memories...

    I had been playing a text-only MUD for about 6months which I thought the dog's bollocks. Then I read about AO in about August of 2001. I was completely blown away after buying it.

    I remember getting my character, an Agent and unintentionally leeching my first 6 levels in the backyard. I joined a team (6 ppl inc me) and was still trying to figure out what to do when something called me away from the PC. I went back twenty minutes later to find I was level 6

    Other stuff I didn't know about until level 20 or so :

    1) Whompas or Grid - I had been running over the bridge to do missions between Omni and Trade (through HQ thinking I was going to be killed any second).

    2) Specials - Whats Flingshot?

    3) NCU belts - don't even ask...
    "You know how these so-called 'Environmentalists' are all vegetarian? Well, there would be a lot more of the Environment if they stopped eating all the plants..."

    Harry Hill

  15. #15
    Hands down, no questions asked -- the event that got me hooked:

    I got my 2 roommates into the game Dec 31, 2001. I rolled a new character, a Doctor (Sheffy, actually ) and they rolled an Enforcer and an Adventurer.

    We were all around lvl 25-30 at the time, trudging through Wailing Wastes for the first time. It had just rained, and the sun was setting behind the clouds. We were all on our toes and we would scream whenever a mob would aggro us! We were doing great, then all of a sudden we passed a big red spider which aggro'd me, and then a Lesser Anun Tearer aggro'd us, and then a vulture, and then a fourth mob. The fight was a long one, a good 6-8 minutes or so, frantically trying to attack the same mob, the adventurer and myself healing our asses off, sweating, enforcer taking a huge beating..

    .. and after many close calls, the last mob dropped dead, with everyone out of nano, and the two healers hanging on by a thread.. The 3 of us just stood there in awe going over what had just happened and how great we felt for surviving such an onslaught! We healed up and went on our way, heads held high from our victory; we felt invincible.


    Funny how its always the memories of being new to the game which remind you why you love it so much ...

  16. #16
    Goes to show; Ignorance is bliss.

    That's why I'm gonna try SWG. Being n00b again.
    Garret "Necc" Scheer press officer of Desert Winds (MSAS)

    Karma, the world's true equalizer.

    Free Rubi-Ka!

  17. #17
    fighting supa leets on the island in aegan (just by rising sun) with a group of about 4 (several of which still play, i think xsaga was there, or one of his alts, i kinda lose track. there was a soldier using a sword anyway!). anyway the first we took on was doing ok, but then a second one aggroed us. i heroically took on this mob, threw up the old TMS & destroyed it, then when 2 more came on us we fled, & i watched in awe as our agent rooted them stone dead, & then thinking how beautifully the classes all worked together.
    doing shimmering malles at lvl 20~ with elnertz was also pretty cool, the day when every hit was a critical, i musta leveld up so much.

    outdoor hunting undoubtedly kept me in this game, & hooked me. from bombing around the temple in GTC running from ancient gargantulas, from storming the avalon borgs base with 2 teams, from working the factory in mort, to roaming around mort killing all the borgs with just the one team...
    by the end of that i had so many friends in AO to keep the game alive, i was truly sucked in
    Field Marshal Londino, lvl 220
    Cutting through the forest of reason
    Veteran of Forsaken
    Former Soldier Professional

    Silly doc thingy Londina, lvl 175+
    She needs tokens dont ya know.

  18. #18
    The ultimate crack in AO is definitely the friends I've made, they've kept me here since release.

    However, what hooked me instantly was the graphics. Man sweet sweet stuff.

    [edit] and hunting/being hunted by Adult Malles in Athen Shire Beach hehe
    Basher Tarr, Engineer, and damn proud of it!

    (really)

  19. #19
    Well its 3 experiences that got me hooked.

    The first was when I started a Fixer in August of 2001 (yes that was before Grid nanos, NCU Hacker Interfaces, new HOTs, and NCU buffs existed). I was level 14 or 15 and running around Tir doing missions. I met up with a small group Neutrals who lead me to Newland, which at the time was the mother of all that is unholy and lagged in this world. We went out the gates and I of course didn't have a map because the Newland Desert map was bugged and wouldn't upload correctly. We ran for what seemed like and hour, but was more or less 20 mins, to the Oasis with a quick pit stop to save and buy some bullets. I remember just seeing the enormity of the Brontos and how they moved, it blew me away. I was even more shocked when my team told me that we were going to killing them for XP. Back then my Mausser had a range of 45m, so I was the puller. I didn't quite get the hang of it at first and a few people died. But pretty soon I was pulling, kiting, and running in circles shouting for heals like a madman. I must have leveled 3 times that day and was almost to level again when we called it quits. We ran back to the save but for some reason we took a different route. Next thing I see was "You shouldn't have come here Chenzi!". Being the only Clan member in a totally Neutral team while running by an Omni guarded outpost isn't the best mix. I went down in one hit and respawned at the OP we saved at laughing my ass off.

    I think I must have spent 3 days after that trying to find Newland...

    The second was when my wife and I created our adventurers and got leet form for the first time. We would always log out under the ramp at the NW Tir outpost in leet form. When we wanted to team she would always leet and sit in my lap while I yelled out "Two HEALING adventurers LFG!". Bot Mountain once again proved that there are scarier things on Rubi Ka than Rollerrats. And Temple of Three Winds, before the spawn was nerfed, proved to me that there is no other experience that can instill more fear in a person than seeing an Ancient Gargantula eat three entire teams. =]

    The third was when got our yalms. I don't think we teamed or got XP for the first 3 days while we had them. There was a visual bug back then (aren't we used to those), but if you would equip your yalm, then morph before the yalm equiped, you would be a flying mini version of whatever you just morphed into. For the longest time I was Rubi-Ka's first and only flying two-headed dog. People at the arena and fair trade were like "WTF?!?!" What was even better was if you canceled the morph, you would be flying like an MP with Quantum Wings. I used to make people laugh so hard when I do that trick out at the Newland Lake and sidestep in midair just over the water and shout "I'm Jesus!" then I face down just under the water at the shoreline and unequip the yalm. The result of that was the swimming animation but INCREDIBLY FAST. So you'd see these two legs sticking out of the ground kicking like a frog while I shouted "Help I'm stuck!".

    Oh those were the days. Sorry for the long post, my wife wanted me to post her article about her addiction to AO rather than posting it up. It's quite a read, so be sure to bookmark it or grab some coffee while you read.
    http://jivemagazine.com/content_articles.php?ID=104
    - Ignorance should be painful

    Sohjiro Founder and Advisor of Synergy Factor
    Gimp Adventurer Extraordnaire.


    SF Tshirts
    But in the end, they're still nothing more than video games My wife's experiment and journey into the addictiveness of Anarchy Online.

  20. #20
    i think it was all the hot opifex biznatches.


    actually

    What got me hooked... When I started I was goin through a sorta hard time in my life.. and I needed somethign to keep me busy. I tried UO again, and cancelled my account literaly 10 minutes after I reactivated.. Then I pondered AC *again*.. realized that i didnt wanna deal with it.. then I remembered a game that my friend introduced me to.. Anarchy Online.

    I remembered that I played in beta, and thought it was pretty cool, even though missions were broken, and it crashed/lagged all the time.. oh well.. Anyways, I downloaded this game, and started up my character..

    I began by running around the BY.. getting spanked by leets and other such MOBs, and finally getting up to level 2... 6 hours later.
    I was running through newland desert one day, exploring, when I came across a group fo 2 people, Drrak and Greywarden, both who were about my level.. and we decided to team. We ran around NLD killing mobs, and Greywarden suggested to me that I join his guild, the former Legion Of Ashes. I went through there, met alot of good people, and learnt ALOT about this game (can we say kodiaks? )

    After Legion of Ashes sort of died.. I joined up with Gridstream productions ( <3 gsp <3 ).. And became a DJ. All I must say is, tarrykpwns ><

    ok.. after a couple months of djing, i decided that i needed to mvoe on, well, school was beginning to be a bigger part ofd my life, and i really couldnt adhere to schedules.... anywho. I joined Synergy Factor. I spoke with alot of my guildies in IRC, and also some of them I knew even before I was in the guild.. (mglo ;p )

    well.. SF was great, and still continues to be my home.. and probably will for a *very* long time.. or at least until i piss off the wrong person...

    thats what got me hooked to ao.. the people, the 'adventure', the just plain fun.. even tho missions do get boring, there is always something to do.


    -boco

    ps. the problem with reality is the lack of backround music.
    Audaz
    Level 220/AI18 Vampire(RK1)
    Boco
    Level 212/AI14 Techno-Wizard (RK1)
    Advisor of Synergy Factor
    Founder/Former DJ, GridStream Productions

    <Chanell> every time i see "this account will remain active" in some engis sig i hear a "cha-ching cha-ching"

    Beardedone1++;

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